Dolphin Tale is like the dim sum of inspirational movies for kids: it offers so many positive messages, if you miss one, another is coming soon. Bad grades? You just haven’t found your passion yet. Loner? You just haven’t found someone who understands you. Feeling worthless? You just haven’t found the right cause yet. Dolphin Tale is an entertaining and inspiring film that says “stay positive and keep trying, you can change the world.”
I’ve seen hundreds of these kinds of “you can do it” movies and love walking out of the theater feeling like I can conquer the impossible. But, who actually does anything with these feelings?
Thinking back to when I was a teen, indeed, some movies did inspire me to take action:
· About Last Night inspired me to break up with my cute boyfriend.
· Ferris Bueller’s Day Off inspired me to skip school one day.
· Pretty in Pink inspired me to date a guy named Blaine.
Not so inspiring. Unfortunately, maturity didn’t yield better results.
· Milk inspired me I should run for city council on an “eliminate traffic” platform; sadly, I never actually did it (but feel free to write me in).
· Judy Moody’s Not Bummer Summer inspired me to be a supercool mom like Aunt Opal, but a month later I regressed back into the mom that doesn’t want to take the kids to the pool because I already showered that day.
· The Help, as previously chronicled, inspired me to try and “friend” my cleaning lady, which immediately led her to outsource me.
It seems the road to complacency is built with good intentions.
Documentaries are a different fish. We switched over to hybrids, wash more often in cold and swapped out our lightbulbs because of Al Gore’s power point in An Inconvenient Truth. I’ve helped with online education initiatives after seeing Waiting for Superman. Apparently, it’s easier to move mountains when you’re given instructions.
While one specific feature may not have inspired my family to do something miraculous, our passion for movies as a whole did inspire my son to start KidsPickFlicks.com, a place where all kids can voice their opinion about movies. But what about you? Has a movie ever inspired you or your children to try and make a difference?
Maybe it’s time. Maybe that film is Dolphin Tale.
Dolphin Tale opens Sept. 23.
To read what kids think about movies, go to www.KidsPickFlicks.com.
